Pleating machine



March 18,` 1952 J. J. FRANK ETAL 2,589,792

PLEATING MACHINE Filed March 21, 1947 4 Sheets--Sheelzy 1 NVENTOR.JasfP/f L/ PAW/f dfi/755 C MACK .WQ M@ MIM Il MMIII March-1s, 1952 .1.J. FRANK ETAL PLEATING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 2l, 1947kum; J E. m@ 1 18, 1952 1 J, FRANK ETAL 2,589,792

PLEATING MACHINE Filed March 21, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 March 18, 1952 J,J, FRANK ETAL 2,589,792

PLEATING MACHINE Filed March 21, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Mar. 18,1952 PLEATIN G MACHINE Joseph J. Frank, Union, and James C. Macy,

Elizabeth, vN. J., assignors to Hercules Fasteners, Inc., a corporationof New Jersey Application March 21, 1947, Serial No. 736,240

Claims.

AThis invention relates to a pleating machine and has particularrelation to the making of sausages. The invention will bedescribedprimarily in its relation to the particular art of making sausages, butit is to be understood that this particular description is adopted forpurposes of expediency and does not constitute a limitation.

For hundreds of years sausages have been made by filling a tubularcasing with foodstuffs. The casing has been tied at one end with string,filled with the food product, such as sausage meat, or cheese, and hasthen been tied with string at the other end. In United States Patent No.2,493,063, the art was shown how to seal a sausage casing in a betterand more sanitary way by employing an eyelet seal. In that invention,the end of the sausage casing, which is a simple tube of edibletransparent material such as regenerated cellulose, is flattened at oneend, pleated, gathered, and the eyelet is passed over the gatheredpleats and clamped upon them. Heretofore, the pleating was done by handor by use of simple pleating jaws. That method of pleating had a numberof disadvantages, among which were these, that it sometimes tended toweaken the material of the casing, that it was time and labor consuming,and that it could not be done as rapidly as the pleated tubes could beeyeleted.

It is an object of this invention to pleat tubular material of sausagecasing type at a rate equal to that at which the eyelets can be applied.

Another object is to mechanically pleat tubes without straining thematerial.

A further object is to reduce the cost of the pleated casings byincreasing the efliciency with which they are produced.

Another object of the invention is to employ the new machine and the newprocess in all elds of industry where pleating is accomplished,including among others the clothing industry, and to accomplish thepleating even upon delicate material without strain.

.The objects of the invention are accomplished, generally speaking, bycarrying out the pleating progressively, which includes one pleat afteranother and also pleating in successive groups. The principles of themechanism by which this is accomplished are set forth by means ofillustrative embodiments hereinafter. It is to be understood, however,that the drawings are for purposes of illustration only and do notconstitute a limitation of the invention, reference for this latterpurpose. Abeing primarily to the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a preferred form of the pleater fromthe feeding side;

Fig. 2 is a side View of this pleater;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3-3 of showing pleated material;

Fig. 4 is a vertical view of the jaws ofa modied form of crimper, theupper jaw being in elevation and the lower in section;

Fig. 5 is a cross section on line 5 5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a modication of the apparatus of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a cross section on lineY 1--1 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 2l

Fig. 8 is an elevational view of a tooth useful Fig. 10 is anelevational view of a tooth useful with the crimper of Fig. 6; y

Fig. 1v1 is a plan view of a part of the sprin of Fig. 6; f

Fig. 12 is an end view of a rubber spacer'of Fig. 6.

The structure of Figs. 1 and 2 represents a preferred embodiment of theinvention. In these gures the power linkage and frame are omitted in`order to raise the operative parts to a larger scale. The power linkageand frame may be of the kind shown in our prior application on thesealer, or of anyv other satisfactory press type adapted to move one orboth of a pair of jaws toward and away from each other to engageflexible material placed between them. Such mechanical m-otions aregenerally known and may satisfactorily be of manual or power operatedreciprocating type.

In Figs. 1 to 3, a lower xed iframe member provided with a square holein which `is received a square dowel I6 of hollow conformation open-Aing upward and cl-osed at its lower end by screw threaded cap I8. Thehollow part of the dowel is reduced at its upper end to form a limitstop I9. The dowel is held in the frame 'member by a set screw 2li. Atits upper end theA dowel is externally'reduced to form a shoulder y2|`upon which rests the lower jaw 22. The end 23 of the dowel exteruisVinto the jaw 22 and is temporarily or permanently aixed thereto.

The jaw 22 is channel shaped, as seen in Fig. 3, having elevated endsand a reduced mid-portion of rectangular shape in which a block 24 lits.

The hollow at the top of the dowel is square and admits atting squarepin or stud 25 upon which the block is xed. The stud extends into thelarger part of the hollow and is provided with a head 26. thatcooperates with shoulder I9 to limit Islsr its upward motion. The headis shown as a washer held on by a nut. Bearing at one end upon thewasher 26 on pin 25 and at the other upon the cap I8 is a spring 21 thatbiases the block outward to a position in advance of the raised ends ofthe jaw, and permits the block to be retracted to a position even withthe top of the jaw when enough pressure is applied to overcome thestrength of the spring.

Mounted in the jaw and in the block, which is efectually a movable partof the jaw, are pleating teeth Sli-3|. These teeth are long, narrow, natsided, and have ends 32 of sweeping curvature leading to flat portions33 of considerable length. The construction of these teeth reduces thepower required for pleating.

Attached to the back of jawY 22 by screws 3 4A is a plate 35 thatextends above the most. elevated position of teeth 3| and covers the gapback of the lower pleating teeth and the upper teeth.

TheY upper support 4 9 is reciprocable. It has a hole 4i in whichasquare hollow dowel 42 is received. The dowel 'carries upper jaw 43 ofAconstruction similar to that; ofv the lower jaw, and similarly attached.The hollow of the dowel encloses astud 44 having a cut outportion-45forming limit stops by contact with screw 46 that serves as an abutmentYto limit its motion. A spring 41 within the dowel presses upon the studand forces the block 48 carried by the stud downward in advance of theother parts of jaw 43. Teeth 551-50, of like construction, arermountedin, jaw 43 and blocl; drain interdental alignment `with* teeth 30-3 l Inseparated position the teeth are spaced-sufiicientlyv to admit:v thematerial to be pleated, as shown in Fig. 2.

The material is alignedby a guide 60 carried by the lower frame memberI5, which is composed i,

of a plate 60 having an opening 6I 4having extensions- {i2-63;

Inthe extensions are two `movable guide members 64M- 65; Each guidemember has an outer flangre that bears against the face of plate E0,

'againstplate and, the'upper jaw is brought down; The teethEl-SI' engagefirst and draw the material freely past teeth 3-49 into central pleats,then the edges of the block teeth engageV the opposite blocks throughthe pleats7 cornpress theY springs, and force the blocks into retractedposition, while the teeth Sil-ll!)l come into actionand pleat the endsof the casing.

By this conception of pleating progressively, straining the material andstretching during pleating is avoided. The result is usually best whenthe progressive pleating is carried out'from the center toward the ends.

A valuable alternative form of the invention is shown in Figs. 4 to 12.In those iigures the nuvmerals'IilL-'H represent upper and lower jawseither or both of which may be reciprocable. Carried by the jaws arecurved springs. The

curved spring 12 of the lower jaw is a curved teeth are inserted in theslots wires 'I6 are passed through holes in the tabs to hold them inposition. The spring is arcuate and"k the slots are preferably radial tothe arc, aligning the teeth radially. The wires stop short of the endsof the springs in the form shown. The upper jaw is like the lower, theteeth being interdentally aligned. When the jaws are moved together thecenter teeth start the crimping, which proceeds thence progressivelytoward the ends. When the teeth engage the spring it is compressed andflattened and the teeth move toward parallelism, gathering the pleats.

The teeth may be moulded in the rubber if del sired, in which case thewires may or may not be used. A satisfactory jaw li) is iiat from end toend and has anges 'H to which the ends of the compressible springs areattached by pins 18.

In a modification of this form of the invention, shown in Figs. 6 and'7, a at steel spring 19 passes through slots in flexible rubber spacersSi and slots 82 in teeth 83'. The method of assembly is yshown in Fig.6. One end of the spring is anchoredas at 78A', by forming an eye 84 inthe end-ofthe spring, and the other end is free to-slidebetweenretainers such as pins mounted in the vflanges Tl of a jaw-such as lil.

An advantage of this invention is that materialhav-ing a pluralityofplies such as a sausage casing, or a plurality of leaves, or severalthicknesses of cloth, can bepleated without stretching the materialbecause the central portion is pleated, and-the endlportionsaretherefore allowed togliderwith-relative freedom between the outer teeth,being thereafter progressively gatheredin thepleat-until the operationis completed.

Another-advantage-ofthe-invention is in the speedwith-which the pleatingoperation is accomplished, itbeing completedy ina single stroke of thepleating-jaws. Thus, a single-machine may accomplishY the pleating-.andthe sealing, a single reciprocating member may, for example, carry sideby'side, pleatingandy sealing means. The operatorl may put the-tubebetween the pleating teeth, and-gather and withdraw the pleats in thefirst stroke of the machine, eyelet' the pleated endand-sealitin-the'second stroke-of the machine. Separate machinesV mayalso be used to accomplishrthe saine result, the pleating beingcompleted'vin oneand the sealingV in another.

Another advantage oftheinvention is in reducing the-cost and improvingtheV eiiiciency of the mechanical sealing o fvtubes;

Yet another advantage of the-invention is that it particularlyfacilitates the pleating of tubular Vbodies by'limitingthev` deep-plaatto a very n limited width of` the .pleated materiaL'leaving thepprtionsl adjacent thereto free to assume the circular endformationthatpisV most desirable.

A" still; further, advantageof this invention is inthe, construction ofthe pleating teeth because, by constructing themin the form shown, butlittle power is requiredforpleating, whereas manytimes the power isvpressured whenthey are otherwisepnstructed: Y Y

As many apparently widely different embodimentsvo'f.A thev presentYinvention may be, made without. departing from;A the spirit and scopethereon it is to fbe understood' thatthe invention is notulimitedltothespecificy embodiments, except: asdenedtin the appended Claims.

l. In a p leating device spaced press m'emlners,

Vjaws having spaced flat teeth in interdental' alignment mounted on saidmembers by means of hollow dowels, springs within the hollow dowels,studs bearing upon the springs and having limited ranges of motionthereagainst, and blocks carried by the studs bearing interdentallyaligned flat teeth, the blocks protruding beyond their respective jawsand being su'iciently spaced to admit flexible material between them innon-pleating position, and the springs having enough strength to pleatflexible material over the block teeth rst.

2. A pleating device including opposed, interdentally aligned bluntpleating teeth adapted to engage and pleat flexible material, said teethproviding a free space transverse to their oper ative edges in theiropen position, a guide for the flexible material including a platehaving a slot positioned before the teeth, and movable guide membersadjustable for width mounted in the slot and having notches aligned withthe said transverse space, said teeth having arcuate ends adjacent toand diverging before said slot.

3. A pleating machine having opposed jaws, each of which contains aplurality or long, thin, blunt edged pleating teeth, said teeth'being ofconstant depth for a portion of their length from a common end thereof,said depth being continuously diminished from said first portion to theother end of said teeth so that the cooper'- ating edges of said teethon the respective jaws diverge, each said jaw holding its said teeth ininterdental alignment with the teeth of the other said jaw.

4. In a pleating device spaced press members. jaws mounted on saidmembers having opposed faces with projecting spaced pleating teeth ininterdental alignment, a recess of limited depth in said face of onesaid jaw, a plunger stud passing through, said recess and into said jaw,

a block mounted on the plunger conforming inY shape to the said recess,spring means biasing said block out of said recess, means to limit themotion of the block against the spring means, and pleating teeth on saidblock held in intertental alignment with teeth on said other jawprojecting beyond the teeth on the same jaw in the outward position ofsaid block.

5. The pleating device of claim 4 in which the pleating teeth have bluntoperating edges, said teeth being of constant depth for a portion oftheir length from a common end thereof, said depth being continuouslydiminished from said first portion to the other end of said teeth sothat the cooperating edges of said teeth on the respective jaws diverge.

JOSEPH J. FRANK. JAMES C. MACY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 336,656 McCreary et al Feb. 23,1886 568,307 Meisel Sept. 22, 1896 1,290,800 Teall Jan. 7, 19191,700,099 Shively Jan. 22, 1929 1,887,680 Hallman Nov. 15, 19321,982,454 Sanders Nov. 27, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date431,103 Germany June 29, 1926 463,105 Germany July 23, 1928

